The document discusses the question of whether to use open educational resources (OER) or not. It defines OER as freely accessible and openly licensed documents and media that can be used for teaching, learning, and research. Some of the advantages of OER include reduced costs for students, access to materials before and after class, and resources tailored specifically for the student population. However, some drawbacks are that instructors do not profit from OER, the validity of information is sometimes questionable, searching for resources can be cumbersome, and cheating may occur more easily if all students have access to the same open materials.

1. The Question Remains:
To OER or Not to OER
By Lisa B. Davis, MAT
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

2. OER: Open Education Resource
• Open educational resources (OER) are freely accessible, openly licensed
documents and media that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing as
well as for research purposes. Although some people consider the use of an
open file format to be an essential characteristic of OER, this is not a
universally acknowledged requirement.
• https://www.oercommons.org/

3. Advantages
• Reduced cost for students
• Students have access to materials the first day of class (even prior to class)
• Faculty has ability to create resources more specific to student population
• Research to compile or to create demands the instructor review available
information, therefore being more current on subject
• May develop or renew a desire to learn in instructor that will ignite in turn increase
student participation and interest
• Students have continued access to material after class ends

4. Drawbacks
• Instructor will not get rich from educational resources created
• Validity of information may be questionable
• Cumbersome searching may cause discouragement and result in incomplete
resources
• Students may not always have easy access to technology and there may not
be a budget to duplicate materials as hardcopy
• Cheating more likely to occur since material is open for all